completed structure works; it is economical to build, and its operation is efficient. In bis effort to meet the conditions of the times, the architect may have sacrificed appearance because he has been compelled to cut himself adrift from traditional designs developed about structural forms that are no longer useful. Nothing else can be expected in this age of extreme transition. It is a phase that will pass when methods of construction become stable and endure long enough to become familiar.
Here again the mechanical industries have set the pace. Nothing can bo more expressive of function; strange as it may seem, nothing can
be more perfectly classical in its structural simplicity and harmonious proportions, than the interior of many modern power plants. Nothing is wasted. Every part has its purpose. Decoration is superfluous.
Not so long ago the mechanical industries aped the architect in covering over their designs with the sickly cast of misplaced ornament. The horrible gilded scroll of the early Pullman car, the dreadful fruit of bad example plastered on a cast iron radiator; such staring examples of degeneracy in applied art have gone or are fast disappearing. No longer is there any attempt to produce a “Gothic” motor or a “Renaissance” transformer. The manufacturer even discusses ways and means of arousing in his designers a sense for fair proportion that will result in further improving the appearance of his apparatus.
He knows that honest and bold expression of functional purpose must result in pleasing construction. He is learning that ornament properly used serves only to accent function, not to disguise it. But, the modem building!
“Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up. ”
The Service Functions of a Building
Thus thinking of the building as a machine, we may follow S. F. Voorhees (The Design of Buildings for Economy in Operation — Trans. Building Owners and Managers Association — 1922) in classifying as follows the several serv
ice functions that the building must render its occupants:
1. Service of Support (Includes foundations, vertical supporting members and floor arches or slabs)
2. Service of Enclosure (Includes outer walls, roofs and partitions for the subdivision of interior space)
3. Service of Access and Transportation (Includes entrances, corridors, doors, stairs and elevators)
4. Service of Sanitation and Water Supply 5. Service of Heating and Ventilation
6. Service of Illumination (Includes light courts, windows and skylights associated with natural illumination)
7. Service of Signaling and Communication
(Includes telephones, messenger calls, stock and
A MODERN POWER PLANT
Here again the mechanical industries have set the pace. Nothing can bo more expressive of function; strange as it may seem, nothing can
be more perfectly classical in its structural simplicity and harmonious proportions, than the interior of many modern power plants. Nothing is wasted. Every part has its purpose. Decoration is superfluous.
Not so long ago the mechanical industries aped the architect in covering over their designs with the sickly cast of misplaced ornament. The horrible gilded scroll of the early Pullman car, the dreadful fruit of bad example plastered on a cast iron radiator; such staring examples of degeneracy in applied art have gone or are fast disappearing. No longer is there any attempt to produce a “Gothic” motor or a “Renaissance” transformer. The manufacturer even discusses ways and means of arousing in his designers a sense for fair proportion that will result in further improving the appearance of his apparatus.
He knows that honest and bold expression of functional purpose must result in pleasing construction. He is learning that ornament properly used serves only to accent function, not to disguise it. But, the modem building!
“Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up. ”
The Service Functions of a Building
Thus thinking of the building as a machine, we may follow S. F. Voorhees (The Design of Buildings for Economy in Operation — Trans. Building Owners and Managers Association — 1922) in classifying as follows the several serv
ice functions that the building must render its occupants:
1. Service of Support (Includes foundations, vertical supporting members and floor arches or slabs)
2. Service of Enclosure (Includes outer walls, roofs and partitions for the subdivision of interior space)
3. Service of Access and Transportation (Includes entrances, corridors, doors, stairs and elevators)
4. Service of Sanitation and Water Supply 5. Service of Heating and Ventilation
6. Service of Illumination (Includes light courts, windows and skylights associated with natural illumination)
7. Service of Signaling and Communication
(Includes telephones, messenger calls, stock and
A MODERN POWER PLANT